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THE CHARACTER 



WASHINGTON 



ARTHUR W. LITTLE, L.H.D. 

CHAl'LAIN OF THE SOCIETY OF THE SONS OF THE REVOLUTION IN THE STATE 
OF ILLINOIS, RECTOR OF ST. MARk's CHURCH, FVANSTON 



AN EXTEMPORE SERMON PREACHED BEFORE TJ^E SOqiEJY 



WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY, 1903 



Stenographed by Mr. R. H. Wyman, a Son of the Revolution 
Printed bv order of the Society 



milwaukee, wis. 
Young Churchman Co. 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONORESS, 


Two Copies 


Received 


JUN 


24 


1903 


(\ Copy 


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IC{0i' 


CLASS 


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XXc. No. 


1^1 


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XJ- 


COPY 


B. 



Copyright, 1903, by 
A«jMui^ W. Little. 






U 



1^ 



The Character of Washington 



TEXT: — "Zy^/ ui nozv praise famous men and our fathers that hcgat us. 
The Lord hath wrought great glory hy thrm.'''' Ecclesiasticus XLIV, 1-2. 



It is well to remember Jli^ great and the good in Church 
and in State. The recurring festivals of the Christian 
Year, commemorating notable events in the life of the 
Founder of Christianity or in the lives of the Apostles. 
Saints, Martyrs of the Early Church, are examples of this 
custom — examples salutary and lieneficent. 

The same principle applies to our great national anni- 
versary which is called Independence Day or the Fourth 
of July, to Lincoln's birthday, and to the day we are now 
celebrating — the Twenty-second of February. 

I never think of the subject of Patriotism without first 
of all thinking of that great man, Vjorn this day, who, and 
who alone, is entitled to be called ''The Father of His 
Country." God has raised up many great men for us, espe- 
cially in times of national danger and distress. But George 
Washington, above all men that this country has ever pro- 
duced, and, 1 think, above all men that any nation has ever 
produced, has set a high, noble and exalted standard of 
patriotism and love of country. Let us, therefore, this 
morning contem])1ate him as a man, as a Christian, as a 
general and as a statesman. 



4 THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 

Mis character as a man is one of the richest and most 
precious of onr inheritances as a nation. Xo man ever 
hxed wlio had, in my opinion, so perfect a lialance of virtues 
as George Washington. It is quite impossil)le to sum up 
and give in a single word the chief characteristics of his 
mind and heart. Perhaps you will find them at least suh- 
slantially grouped under a conspicuous and patient equan- 
imity and self-mastery ; and in these things, taken all in 
all. he never had a superior, and I think ne\-er an equal, in 
history. 

Hannihal was a greater general. Caesar was a greater 
general and, perhaps, a greater statesman. Napoleon was 
a greater general and certainly a more brilliant statesman. 
But not one of them approached him in his perfect balance 
of virtues and in the roundness and completeness of his 
character. Perhaps Moses of old, and in more recent times 
King Alfred the Great, are the only characters of history 
that approach the Father of His Country. 

Among his man}" virtues, one of the most conspicuous 
was truthfulness. A glorious virtue! the al)sence of ^^■hich 
is not only a blot upon character, but is the absolute ruin 
of all that is lieautiful and admiral)le in human life. The 
higher critics tell us that the stor_\- of Washington ar.d 
the hatchet is no longer to l)e regarded as true. Neverthe- 
less, it is at least of svmbolic and allegorical \'alue. If it 
be not true, it is safe to say that it would ha\-e been true, if 
the alleged circumstances had e\er arisen. Honest all 
through his life, he was a man of absolute integrity which 
nothing could shake and nothing cnnld corrupt. Indeed, 
it is said that when, as a wealthv planter, he shii)pcd a 



THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 5 

great deal of the produce of his plantation to the West 
India Islands, the custom house officers never cared to in- 
spect any goods marked, "George Washington, Mt. Ver- 
non." They knew that every article that came from him 
was exactly what it purported to be. Who would not 
rather have such a tribute of praise from the custom house 
officers than to be able to smuggle in priceless cases of 
jewels and lace? 

\\'ashington was a man of clean and pure life, a man 
who from boyhood to old age needed not to be ashamed 
in the presence of man or woman; he could always look 
another in the eye. Furthermore, he was always a man 
of moral earnestness, diligence, punctuality, modesty, dig- 
nity, calmness, courtesy, and above all of a sensible and 
manly piety, a piety without cant, without hypocrisy, with- 
(^ut display, loving, noble, self-respecting, humble. There 
is for all of us a valuable lesson in this very fact, that 
he could be a religious. God-fearing man without any of the 
disagreeable cant, long-facedness and austerity which have 
too often marred the cheerful and manly religion of Jesus 
Christ. 

Washington was a man who loved nature, who loved ani- 
mals, who loved little children. There is something wrong 
in the moral make-up of the man who does not love nature, 
and does not love animals, and does not love little children. 
He loved them all, and found place for them all in his 
capacious heart. Furthermore, he was always respectful, 
courteous and affable to women. He was kind to slaves. 
Indeed, in his heart he was a wise and judicious abolition- 
ist. He did not approve of slavery, though, like Saint 



6 THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 

Paul, he knew that slavery was so gigantic an institution 
and so rooted in the commnnity that it could not be abol- 
ished at once. But he set an example by freeing his (nvn 
slaves. 

I have somewhere read the story that at one time he was 
walking along the roadside near his old home in the com- 
pany of a very proud and haughty officer, when a negro 
passed them and, meekly stepping out of the wav. bowed 
to these gentlemen. Washington, with his wonted cour- 
tesy, returned the bow. The other man said to him con- 
temptuously, "Do you bow to niggers?'" Washington re- 
plied, "Would you have me less polite than the poor col- 
ored man ?" 

He did those duties that pertained to him in his boyhood 
faithfully and well. As a young man. after he became a 
surveyor, penetrating through the wilderness of \'irginia, 
he did his surveying well. As a woodsman and hunter he 
excelled, and was a master of all that pertained to wood- 
craft. As a wealthy planter, a A'irginian of the old school, 
he did his duty in that state of life, and did it well. As a 
vestryman of his parish church, he did his work well. In his 
faithful attendance upon divine service, in his lovaltv to 
the old Church, in the example that he set to all his neigh- 
bors, he did well. As a meml)er of the House of Burgesses, 
that is to say, a representative to the Legislature of the 
Colony of \^irginia. he did his work well. There is a beau- 
tiful picture, only too brief, of Washington in the 
character of a ])lanter and burgess, a colonel of militia and 
a gentleman of old \'irginia. which you will find in Thack- 
eray's 'A^irginians," which T beliexe to be a substantial! v 



THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 7 

true picture of W'ashiugtou in his earlier days before the 
Revohition. As a soldier and a statesman, lie did his work 
more than well. 

It is, of course, in the eight years' struggle out of which 
our nation, as a nation, was born that the glory and the 
sublimity of his character are most conspicuous. Here we 
see that, alike in adversity and in prosperity, he always pre- 
served that perfect loalance of mind which we may call 
e([uanimitv. I know of no example of a man who remained 
so absolutely calm and unmoved, whether in victory or in. 
defeat, as did this anas andron, this veritable king of men. 

One of his particular accomplishments as a general was 
not merely the calmness and dignity with which he endured 
defeat, but the skill with which he rose superior to mis- 
fortune. As a young man, after the disastrous defeat of 
the British and Colonial troops under General Braddock, it 
was Colonel Washington who saved the remnant of that 
unfortunate army, and conducted with masterh- skill what 
is said to be one of the longest continuous retreats in mar- 
tial history. Nor did he forget, even in the anguish of that 
defeat, his religious duties. As the chaplain of the regi- 
ment had lieen killed, \\'ashing"ton read the Office of the 
Dead over the dust and for the soul of the brave, strong, 
stubborn and unfortunate Braddock. 

Alas ! that so many of the gallant British officers of to- 
day seem not yet to have learned the lesson of "Braddock's 
Defeat." 

Again, in the remarka1)le retreat across Xew Jersey, he 
displayed a skill and generalship which are realK' deserving 
of higher praise than the w inning of many a victory. 



8 THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 

During" the long and desperate struggle of the war, he 
was left without adequate resources in the wa}- of officers 
and men, arms and ammunition, clothing and commissary 
supplies, and with a great lack of enthusiasm and loyalty 
throughout the army and throughout the land. In meas- 
uring, therefore, his greatness as a general, we must n(<i 
judge of victories per sc, hut of victories won m spite of 
adverse circumstances, and of disasters transmuted into suc- 
cess. Frederick the Great, who was considered the ahle.-t 
general of the w^orld during the eighteenth century, said 
that Washington's victories from the 25th of Decemher, 
1776, to the 4th of January, 1777, were the most brilliant 
recorded in the pages of history. 

But perhaps the grandeur of his character shone forth 
more than ever in the melancholy and desperate winter in 
Valley Forge. There, with his starving, sick and dying 
men, whose privations he shared, he bore up with a cour- 
age, wdth a fortitude and with a cheerfulness that are the 
wonder and amazement of all who read that pathetic his- 
tory. Then, too, were conspicuously seen his habits 
of devotion and trust in God. You all doubtless 
remember the stor}- of the old Quaker who. out in 'lIk- 
woods, heard a voice, and peering through the trees saw 
Washington's horse tied, and, near by. the great Com- 
mander in Chief kneeling upon his knees and praying aloud 
to God. casting all his cares upon Him. And you know 
how the Quaker went Imuie and told his wife that he was 
sure of the success of the Continental ami)-, for God would 
hear such prayers as those. 

There is a special lesson for us here, and particularly it 



THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 9 

mav be, for some of y(Xi men and boys wbo are sometimes 
tempted to think it is not a manly thint^" to pray. Bnt I 
tell von it is a manly thing. Xot only that, bnt it is the 
greatest of pri\ileges that we, poor and weak as we are, 
have access to the Throne of Divine Strength, that we may 
lay all our cares and burdens there, and find grace to help 
in every time of need. 

At last there came the time which is described by an 
English poet in these words : 

"When the tide of war was turned on their foes, 
And the eagle in air triumphant arose, 
And the shout was heard o'er land and sea: 
'Our cause is blest and Columbia free.' " 

It followed, as a matter of course — for who could gain- 
say or oppose it? — that the man who had led our feeble 
f(^rces to glorious victory should be chosen to l)e the first 
President of the now organized and united States — the 
onh- man wIkj has been unanimousl}- chosen t(» that high 
office. 

I cannot take the time this morning to descril)e his eigh.l 
\ ears' administration. But surelv never a chief magistrate 
was called upon to guide a ship of state through more peril- 
ous breaker^ than was the first pilot of our ship. That 
same- English poet from whom I have already (pioted says: 

"Then wisdom spoke in that chieftain's voice, 
When called to rule by the people's choice; 
But soon, for his country's wish too soon. 
He resigned his sway, that country's boon; 
Retired again to the sylvan shade, 
To the ploughshare turned his patriot blade; 
And greater than king, in his jeweled crown, 
Was he when he laid that greatness down. " 

There is something in the character, in the bearing, in 
the work of this great statesman, and in the humble laying 



10 THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 

aside of his i^'lni'v and retiring to ])ri\ate life, that seems to 
lift him alxive the plane of mankind, lie has in these re- 
spects, as in most others, no sni)erior, and scarcely an eqnal 
in all histor)-. .\nti(|nit}' wonld ha\e placed him among tlie 
gods of ()lympns, and wcudd ha\e reared to him many a 
nohle temple and many a smoking altar, as to Hercules, 
when his t\vel\e laliors were performed. 

Washington was as charming and attractive in his per- 
sonal life and manners as he \Nas great and glorious in char- 
acter. .\nd to-day his memor_\' is almost as dear to the 
nation against which he fought as it is to the nation whose 
Father jie is. 

And vet we cannot say that Washington was al)solutel\' 
perfect. We cannot say that of any mere man. Indeed, 
though T almost hate to say so, there is a certain satisfac- 
tion to us in the knowledge that he did at least occasional]}' 
lose his temper, and that, like Moses, he "spake unadvisedly 
with his lips." 

Under |)ro^•ocation which wnuld ha\e tempted a saint, 
at the hattle of Alonmoi-th. \\hen the treason, or the stu- 
pidit}', of Lee was hringing ahout a terril)le disaster to 
Washington's army, we are told that Washington did lose 
his temper, and that he swore. But these very things, 
microscopic l)lots upon the solar radiance of his character, 
only remind us that he was a iiuin, and keep us from he- 
lie\ing him to ha\-e been so wholl_\- aho\e us that it is impos- 
sible for us to imitate him. riuw make us helieve that 
after all he was but a man, of true human nature, a man 
"of like ])assions with ou.rseKes." 

1 know of no character in histoiw who seems to ha\"e heen 



THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 11 

more certain!}- raisccl np of God for liis sjjecial wnrk tlian 
was this great man. And one reason why I think lie was 
divinely raised np is hecanse God preserxed him all throngh 
unspeakahle perils and risks r.ntil his warfare was accom- 
plished and his lahor ended. Few men nnderwent greater 
hazards of life than he; yet he ne\er received, 1 mav sa} . 
a scratch. 

In the terril)le hattle known as ''Braddnck's Defeat"". 
\\'ashington was in the \ery thickest of the hght. Two 
horses were shot nnder him; four bullets pierced his clothes. 
An Indian chief, who had ambushed him. and who w.as in 
close range, bred his rifle at him again and again, while 
the whole compan\- n\ Indians under this special chief sin- 
gled out this one man ftir their guns and arrows. Finall} 
that Indian chief stopped bring at him, and said, "That man 
IS going" to become a great sachem, for he is under the protec- 
tion of the Great Spirit." Thev could not kill him. 1 do net 
know why their bullets went astray. The}- were keen, accu- 
rate marksmen. 1 beliex'e Almighty God wrought a miracle 
to save him, because He had a work for him to do. At the 
battles of Princeton and ■Monmouth, Washington exposed 
liimself recklessh- to the bre of the foe, \et can-ie out un- 
scathed. .\t the battle of \'orkto\\Ti, Washington, froni his 
advanced position, was needlessh' exposed to the bre of the 
enemy, when General Daxid Cobb, then a Colonel on the 
Commander's staff, rode up to him and begged him not to 
exix)se himself to such ])eril. Washington replied: "Col- 
onel Cobb, if von fear for vourself you ma}- retire, but 1 
sta}' here." The}- both stayed. 

In sunin-iing u[) the character of this great man. it seems 



12 THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 

lt> nic tliat lie jiossessed sex'cral \irtues which we as a nation 
are inchned tc) lack, and some oi which we are growing to 
lack more and m(M"e. His calmness, his dignit}'. his judi- 
cious conservatism — these are characteristics that are not 
l)articnlarly conspicuous in the American people. These 
traits were seen in his religions life. He was a member of 
the old Church of England, a Churchman of sincere, 
manlv. unpretentious piety and devotion in a cold, skeptical 
and nnchurchly age. 

And here I pause to say that there is a popular miscou- 
ception as to the attitude of the Anglican Church in the 
Colonies during the Revolution. It is commonly said, and 
it is popularly believed, that the patriotic work of the Revo- 
lution was done almost entirelv by the Puritans of New 
England and their religious coiifiTi'cs in the Middle States. 
True, they did their part with characteristic boldness, hero- 
ism and self-sacrifice. 1 would Ije the last to belittle the 
honorable and glorious share of the Puritans in the work of 
Independence. It is true also that in New England, where 
there were but few Churchmen, and they for the most part 
new-comers who had not taken root in the soil, it is true, I 
sav. in New England, that Churchmen were for the most 
part "Tories" or "Royalists", and were loyal to the British 
crown. But, after all, the great work of the Revolution 
was not accomplished so much by the New Englanders as 
bv the sturdy Ca\aliers of \'irginia, with the ]\[arylanders, 
the Carolinians and the Georgians. 

In praising the New Englanders, as I do. it may not be 
out of ])lace to mention also the fact that throughout the 
Colonies Churchmen were not generallv Tories. Of the 



THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 13 

signers of the Declaration of Independence, ticu-t/iinis were 
Anglican Churchmen, as were also a majority of the mem- 
hers of the Congress that adopted the Constitution of the 
I'nited States. And George \\'ashington was a hum1)le and 
(le\'out communicant of the Anglo-Catholic Ch.urch. th;.' 
old Mother Church of us all. 

Finally, dear hrethren, among the man}- legacies that 
Washington has left us, there is one which is coming to he 
appreciated more than ever hefore, and that is the legacy 
of friendship and love to the ^Mother Country. He had the 
wisdom, he had the far-reaching sagacity in the days, whei^. 
after the hitter contest everything English was hated and 
despised, to see that it was the Alother Country of England, 
and not France, although France had helped us, that would 
in the future he our dearest friend, our most faithful neigh- 
hor. our strongest ally. And in spite of opposition an 1 
ohloquv, he expressed this conviction to many who were 
opposed to the friendship of England in those days. It has 
taken a long time for this lepacy, if I may so say, to he pro- 
hated and accepted hy the American peojile, and hy 
the English people for that matter: hut I think that now wc 
are entering into possession. I helieve that henceforth and 
forevermore these two great Anglo-Saxon nations — Eng- 
land and the United States of America — will walk down 
history hand in hand, and will stand together for the same 
great principles of religion and justice, of liherty, of human- 
it\- and of progress. And 1 would ha\e }'ou hehe\e that this 
glorious consummation, fraught with hlessings to England, 
to us and to the world, is one of the most precious of all the 
legacies of the "Father of His Country." 



ILLINOIS SOCIETY SONS OF THE 
REVOLUTION 

OFFICERS FOR 1903 



President, GEORGE LYON DOUGLASS, 

153 La Salle Street, Chicago 

First Vice-President, FOLLETT WILKINSON BULL, 

The Temple, Chicago 

Second Vice-President, CHARLES CROMWELL, 

200 Adams Street, Chicago 

Third Vice-President, LUCAS BUTTS, 

Peoria, Illinois 

Secretary, USAL HAGGERTY STRUBLE, Jr., 

368 S. Hermitage Avenue, Chicago 

Treasurer, HARRISON KELLEY, 

99 Randolph Street, Chicago 

Register, FREDERICK DICKINSON, 

Board of Trade Building, Chicago 

Chaplain, REV. ARTHUR W. LITTLE, L.H.D., 

Evanston, Illinois 

Historian, JOHN CROCKER FOOTE, 

Belvidere, Illinois 



STATE BOARD OF MANAGERS 

Le Baron Loring Austin John Henry Brown 

Orange Warner Ellis 
Charles Thomson .\tkinson John Edward Case 

Dr. Albert Scott Gray 

William Cleveland Moulton Ernest Hammond Eversz 

John Ralph Dickinson 




^. SI. 1908 



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